The Number Of Six

Chapter 21

Stefan

''Give me your hand.'' She said, holding out hers. Stefan frowned but immediately obeyed. ''I don't mind holding hands with you.'' He said and squeezed it a little. Willow closed her eyes and Stefan got a weird feeling that they weren't alone. Scanning their surroundings, there was no one even close, besides his siblings in the house. He then realised, it was in his head, a feeling he couldn't describe but his thoughts felt exposed. Willow didn't say a thing for a couple of seconds but then she smiled and opened her eyes. Stefan couldn't help but think her eyes were very beautiful, they were bright and blue. ''Enjoyed that, didn't you?'' A cocky smile crept across his face. ''Yeah, I did. '' The girl actually sounded sincere and let go of his hand. The creepy feeling was gone, he was all alone again. ''Wait , what? No come back? '' Stefan was surprised. Willow shook her head in what looked like pity and walked to the nearest tree in their garden. ''My grandma learned me this new trick, '' She started, ''I didn't enjoy holding your hand, I enjoyed looking in your head. ''

''You looked into my head? And'', he stressed the word, ''you liked it?'' Stefan wondered what she'd seen. Did she have access to all his thoughts? Or just the ones he had been having at that exact moment? Was she able to see every memory of his?
Willow gave him a small smile and nodded.
''Why didn't you tell Damon the truth?'' She asked. The wind blew her scent in his direction, her hair floating through the air while she was trying to keep it in place.
Stefan shrugged, she wouldn't understand if he tried to explain. None of his siblings really listened to anything he had to say, let along they even believed him. Klaus was the only one who noticed he was still a part of the family, but Stefan was used to it. Ever since Elena was born, she was all everyone couldn't stop thinking about and they shoved Stefan and Klaus away, them being just the middle kids, not at all important. They didn't hate their little human sister, they just hated how everyone acted around her, like she was the centre of their world and nothing else mattered anymore.
Willow started walking away from him, until she turned around.
''I'm going to do some more exploring, getting to know the borders. Care to join me?''
After giving the house a quick glance, knowing nobody really enjoyed his company over there, he took the offer.
''If we run we're faster.'' Stefan offered.
''Imagine how fast we'd be if we flew, but that's not going to happen either.''
Willow took out her car keys and got in behind the wheel, starting the engine. She waited a little, to see if he'd come with her but he was already on the run.
They met at end of the road, the woods starting and houses ending. She parked her car and sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. A knock on her window made her heart skip a beat and she cursed the Salvatore brother already.
''What? Couldn't wait 'till I got out?'' Willow slammed her door shut and locked the car with one click.
''You were just staring at your wheel. It creeped me out.''
Stefan looked around, the woods were dark but his vampire vision gave him a clear view of everything. His ears told him there were only a couple of night animals awake but his nose did tell him something weird.
''And you standing sniffing around in the air is not creepy?'' Willow shivered, the wind was colder at night and she didn't have a jacket on.
Stefan chuckled. ''Getting cold feet already?''
''Very funny.'' The girl started moving, placing her feet carefully because tripping in front of Stefan would be too embarrassing.
''Can't we go faster?'' He asked.
Already, Willow regretted inviting him. ''It's human versus vampire, Stefan.''
''Well, guess who wins.'' He swooped her up and held her in his arms.
''How far?'' He asked.
''About a mile.'' She answered, hoping to feel the ground soon again.
Stefan nodded and in a second of dark blur and cold wind rushing past, he stopped but he didn't let her go yet.
''You'll feel dizzy at first, stand carefully.'' He put her on the ground, his hands still holding her up. It took her not longer than two seconds to gain her balance back.
''Why is it like this?'' Willow asked, for the first time actually seeing a vampire in action, more like feeling it.
''Human's heads sucks. There's this balance organy thing that gets upset when you move too fast, I mean, for human speed. If that baby is upside down, so are you.''
''Go humans. So'', she said, ''the border is a little further but be careful, you cannot get over it.''
After looking for a while, Willow found the tree she had put a ribbon on to mark her previous steps. If she tried hard enough, she could see it, with a little bit of magic. But it didn't always last long, it was like a broken lightbulb, flickering on and off. On the outside of the line, she placed a rock every three feet so Stefan knew where to put his feet.
''What does happen? If I cross it?'' The vampire asked. Willow saw he was tempted to test that theory and she was tempted to say he should try and see what happened. But that would probably give away their position to Willow's mom and alarm the wolves. Not a great idea.
''You'll burn.'' She lied.
''Auwtch.''